The present invention relates to a ski boot and, in particular, an improvement in a ski boot of a front buckle type.
Conventionally, in a ski boot of a front buckle type, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-226601 of Heisei, in order to facilitate the insertion and removal of a skier's foot, there is formed a slit in the upper section of separated & overlapping portions of a shell main body separated right and left in a manner to extend from an upper opening of the shell main body to an instep area thereof, and there is provided a cover member for covering the slit as well as the separated & overlapping portions in such a manner that it extends from a toe portion of the shell main body to the upper opening thereof.
However, in the above-mentioned conventional ski boot, as shown in FIG. 9, since it employs such a structure that the separated & overlapping portions 3 of the shell main body 1 separated right and left are fastened by a plurality of buckles 7 respectively mounted to the cover member 5, when the separated overlapping portions 3 (instep area) are fastened by the buckles 7, there is produced a space 9 between the shell main body 1 and cover member 5, which results in an insufficient fastening effect.
Also, in the conventional boot structure, the cover member 5 can be pivotally moved with respect to the shell main body 1 about its connecting point positioned on the toe portion of a ski boot 11. Further, in the structure of the ski boot 11, a pin 13 mounted to the instep area of the shell main body 1 is engageable with an elongated hole 15 of a cover member 5 formed in the neighborhood of a second buckle 7a to thereby prevent slipping of the cover member 5 and also, when the separated & overlapping portions 3 are fastened by the buckles 7, the cover member 5 is arranged in such a manner that it does not interfere with such fastening.
However, because the cover member 5 is connected through the pin 13 to the shell main body 1 in the neighborhood of the second buckle 7a, the angle of forward opening of the cover member 5 is so small that the foot insertion and removal cannot be achieved sufficiently. Also, the provision of the elongated hole 15 in the cover member 5 produces a possibility that water may be leaked into the ski boot from the elongated hole 15 and a great load is given to the elongated hole 15 by the pin 13 when fastening, which has an ill effect on the durability of the elongated hole 15 when it is used for a long period of time.
In FIG. 9, reference character 17 designates a cable, one end of which is connected to one separated portion 3a. The cable 17 is connected to the buckles 7 through a through hole 19 which is formed in the shell main body 1.